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Academy Members Hold "Heated, Divided" Meeting On Will Smith Slap; Ukrainian Mom Posts Video Diary From Kyiv Bomb Shelter With Young Kids; U.N.: 3.8 Million People Have Fled Ukraine Since Russian Invasion, Most Head To Poland; Biden Unveils 2023 Budget Proposal, Including Funding For Ukraine. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired March 28, 2022 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: And that they were very divided in this heated Zoom meeting this morning.

Because they felt like some people were upset that the Academy just released one statement, just a sentence saying that they don't condone violence and that wasn't enough.

While others felt like, hey, this is going to blow over, let's let it lie.

But I can tell you though that a source close to the situation tells CNN just moments ago that, last night, the Academy, that they considered removing Will Smith from the broadcast.

That is huge news to know that.

(CROSSTALK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: What does that even mean to remove him?

MELAS: They means that they actually thought about approaching Will Smith and having him leave the premises.

Because the Academy has bylaws against violence. And if you are an Academy member, which we don't know if Will Smith is, you sign and you agree to the bylaws. And they are very strict.

And those bylaws went into effect once the me-too movement started after Harvey Weinstein was accused of assaulting women.

And they also said that the leadership of the Academy, they were seated in different spots in that massive Dolby Theater and that they weren't able to mobilize in time and to get everybody together.

This is an unprecedented moment, you know, and for them to get together and discuss and all agree about what to do.

You might say they have 45 minutes but it is not as easy as it looks. Again, no precedent for this. A lot of questions about security, too. Even though this is Will Smith and he's an A-list actor up for an award, should there be security there? Those are questions that you're seeing.

So, it will be interesting to see if the Academy responds further.

CAMEROTA: So, Mara, you, your position, I think, is that you tweeted out that the person most hurt by Will Smith's slap is Will Smith. How so?

MARA SCHIAVOCAMPO, PODCAST HOST, "RUN TELL THIS": Yes. Yes. You know, Will Smith overshadowed what should have been a real highlight of his career that has been decades in the making.

The headlines this morning should have been about his amazing journey from teen rapper from Philadelphia to an Academy Award winner and, by the way, one of the few African-American ever presented with that honor.

And instead, it is about him slapping Chris Rock. And ironically, Chris Rock coming out looking good in this whole scenario, even though he made that tasteless, cruel joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.

CAMEROTA: Was it cruel? I want to ask you about that because, to my ears, "G.I. Jane" is badass. OK?

And I think he said, I love you Jada. He was clearly trying to couch it.

SCHIAVOCAMPO: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And now we know that she doesn't have hair because of alopecia, a medical condition.

But to your ears, was that cruel.

SCHIAVOCAMPO: There's context here that is important. Absent the context, no, it sounds like, as far as Chris Rock is concerned, a very benign joke.

But the context is two-fold. For one, they have history. Chris Rock has mocked the Smiths at the Oscars before in 2016. They were not present at the time. So there has been some bad blood since then.

And the other piece of context is that Jada Pinkett has been very public about her battle with alopecia that caused this hair loss.

And as women, I think we could understand how painful it would be to suffer extreme hair loss in that way.

So that is the context. And that is the key to what Will Smith was reacting to.

A lot of the debate that we're hearing today is about people saying, well, it was understandable. Now it was unacceptable. No question about that. But there are a lot of people who are saying he was coming to her

defense in a very painful moment.

CAMEROTA: Chloe, Chris Rock deserves an award for being unflappable and having a "show must go on" professionalism.

MELAS: And having such a good line after that on his feet, right?

(CROSSTALK)

MELAS: To say, you know, this is a great live television.

CAMEROTA: It was great live television. Whatever it was -- it was a live moment. And I can't imagine anybody responding better.

Has he responded to this?

MELAS: No. No, we haven't heard anything. And you saw Diddy saying, we are going to resolve this like family and I'm going to get you two together.

Unclear if they've spoken to each other, if they've settled any bad blood.

And how much deeper does this bad blood run? Is it more than just the quips at the Oscars in 2016? Or is there more behind the scenes that we don't know about?

Is Will Smith or Chris Rock going to come out and give us more context of this?

But we're trying to reach Chris Rock's representatives for comment. We've had radio silence.

But again, everybody is coming to Will Smith to see if he's OK. You saw Denzel Washington. You saw Tyler Perry. You know --

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: My face still hurts from imagining what that slap was like.

MELAS: Yes, yes.

CAMEROTA: Chloe, thank you for the breaking news.

Mara, thank you very much for the context.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: It's great to talk to both of you.

This just in, the controversial bill restricting LGBTQ topics in Florida classrooms will take effect in July. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just signed this into law a short time ago.

It bans public schoolteachers from encouraging classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

Supporters say it gives parents more control over what their kids learn. Critics have dubbed it the "Don't Say Gay" bill and worry it will lead to more isolation and self-harm for gay and trans students.

[14:35:07]

Russian forces striking Kyiv. CNN teams have been reporting on the constant bombardment of the capital, as Ukrainians say Russia is trying to block supply routes into the city.

So up next, we'll speak to a mom who has been sheltering with her three children while keeping a video diary of this situation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:06]

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: I'm Don Lemon, live here in Ukraine in Lviv.

And we continue to follow the breaking news on the war. We're hearing air raid sirens going off.

As of a week ago, a couple of days ago, it would not have been a big concern. But since there was the bombardment that happened this weekend in the city, folks here get a lot more tense now when they hear the air raid sirens.

So we'll see what is going on and then we'll update you on it.

In the meantime, we'll continue on with our news. There were large explosions rocking the capital of Kyiv. Ukrainian officials say Russia is trying to block supply routes into the city.

And amid all of this, local official announced that schooling would resume in an online format today.

Olena joins us right now. She's a Ukrainian mother sheltering her children in a basement in Kyiv.

She regularly posts a video diary of her and her family's life on her YouTube channel, "What is Ukraine."

And let's take a look, before we talk to her. Here is one of her recent videos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLENA GNES, UKRAINIAN MOM SHELTERING IN KYIV WITH FAMILY: So it happened at night. At night, we heard very loud explosions. It is very close, really close to us.

And later, hours later, it was in the news that a building, an apartment block, very similar to which we live, it was hit by a missile on the next street. Very close to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So that is one of your most recent posts.

Thank you so much for joining us.

What have you been hearing from the shelter today? Have you heard or felt the explosions in the area?

GNES: We hear some explosions. We are in the -- today, all these days, we hear explosions coming from Irpin, from Bucha that is very close where the Russians are standing next to Kyiv.

We are in the north of Kyiv. Our neighborhood. And like almost every day, every night, we hear some explosions here.

LEMON: One of your children returned to online schooling today. What was that like in the middle of a war zone?

GNES: Well, it was very good because they need some knowledge to get. This is online school.

And today, she's been just -- there were two lessons. One 30 minutes each. So it is not very long.

And it just was important for children to listen to the other children, yes, to know that life goes on. Because many of their classmates, they just left Kyiv and some of them are abroad.

And it was just important for them to see the other children's faces and their teachers just to know that normal life is still possible.

Because most of the time, it is spent here in the basement without even seeing the light. So for kids, it is very good that some of these lessons resumed.

LEMON: Yes. I'm just wondering, how distracting it is for them hearing the explosions, and I'm sure the air raid sirens, because we have some sirens going off right now and it could be pretty disconcerting to hear.

It is not always explosions here in Lviv, but usually, when the sirens go off in Kyiv, if there are any warning sirens, it is something that is real.

GNES: Likely now, the neighborhood, they are not that loud because we do not have them on the street. So we do not hear the -- we hear only explosions that go after.

And we know that the alerts only from our mobile phones, the Messenger. And then telling kids all of the time that we have this air sirens.

But they know that they are often happening. Yes, and this is something really bad that is happening to our children, really.

LEMON: Yes. So your husband is also a journalist who joined the fight to protect the country. How is he doing? And what is he telling you about what these battles are like?

GNES: Well, he's pretty tired already. Even though he was not directly involved in the fighting. He is inside of Kyiv in the defense units of Kyiv.

And we still hope that those guys, they will not be fighting inside of Kyiv. That Kyiv is protected enough.

We hope that it will not happen, that people in Kyiv will not be dying like they are dying right now in Mariupol, in Kharkiv, in Chernihiv.

We hope that it will not happen. Because we have to prevent another tragedy.

[14:45:00]

Again and again, repeating the history that have after many people that were killed, to say, oh, we express deep concerns, oh, we express condolences, oh, how could this happen.

I mean, Putin is a criminal. He's a terrorist. And everybody is afraid of him.

Recently, Biden said the truth, that Putin is a killer. And everybody was like, oh, what about peace negotiations.

I mean, Putin is lying to everybody's faces. And he's laughing at Biden and all of the other world leaders. Because he can do whatever he wants.

He promised not to attack. He attacked. He promised not to kill civilians. He's killing civilians. Now we are hoping for some peace negotiations.

So what if he promises again not to kill people? Does it mean I will be safe here in Kyiv? In 10 seconds, he'll launch another missile from the Black Sea, thousands of kilometers away, into Kyiv and just kill us.

And where are the guarantees that he will not be doing this? Who will guarantee? If everybody is afraid of this terrorist of Putin. Sorry.

LEMON: Yes. Well, I can understand your passion.

And you have beautiful children. And you are such a great mom. And we're really happy that you're OK thus far.

So please be safe and thank you.

Did you want to say something, Olena?

GNES: Yes, I wanted to say that I'm just a typical average really Ukraine woman. There are so many of us. We're all human beings. We're all people. Where all of our children are beautiful, not only mine.

And this terrible war should be stopped, prevented. We have to prevent more deaths. It is not good what is happening. It is not -- it is nonsense. It should not be happening.

LEMON: Yes. Right you are.

Olena Gnes, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Alisyn, I'm going back to you in New York.

Brian, is there something we need to know before we go back to New York? We're live.

Are we good?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's not.

LEMON: OK.

We're good here. There's some commotion going on. We heard the sirens. We just wanted to make sure.

So there you go, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Don, that was incredible. It is incredible to hear from Olena. She's so composed.

And what the average Ukrainian woman, as she calls herself, has to endure right now with her newborn there and her little daughter. That was just incredible.

And, Don, we'll check back with you. Let us know if there's anything we need to know happening from your location.

Meanwhile, according to the U.N., 3.8 million Ukrainians have fled their country since the end of February. Most refugees heading to neighboring Poland. We'll show you what that looks like, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:52:25]

CAMEROTA: More than 3.8 million people have fled Ukraine since Russian troops and tanks rolled in on February 24th. Half of those refugees are children. Many are now in Poland.

And CNN's Kyung Lah is in Warsaw where an Expo Center is now a temporary shelter for thousands of Ukrainian women and children.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You are looking at the largest refugee hub in all of Europe. All of these are cots, places where people have basically taken everything that they can carry and turned into their home.

You can that there are these little pods of blankets. Children laying on some of these cots. There are cribs here. And 95 percent of the people in this place in Warsaw are women,

children and the elderly. They are the ones who have left safely out of Ukraine.

But emphasis here is that this is a hub. If you look at other parts of this Expo Center, there are places for you to get paperwork sorted, to get a bus ticket to travel to other parts of Europe, to stop, have a place to stop, to eat consistent meals, to get health care.

It is something that this Expo Center, which is privately -- and jointly run by the city, but privately owned, says it will do as long as it can.

TOMASZ SZYPULA, PTAK WARSAW EXPO: How long? I don't know. We should call Putin.

I don't know. We will be helping them as long as possible. But it's not accommodations for the human beings, you know. So that's why we must replace them very fast.

Because this is temporary place. It's not good for the children and for those women, you know. It's not good to leave them in such accommodation for the longer term.

LAH: The city of Warsaw itself has taken in some 300,000 refugees. The country of Poland, more than two million refugees.

We spoke the mayor of Warsaw who says the generosity of the Polish people is endless. But the reality is that there's only so much the city can do sustainably without this type of care starting to drop.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: And Kyung Lah joins us now from Warsaw.

Kyung, that's incredible, seeing the herculean effort there of the people behind that Expo Center and everyone in Poland.

Tell us more about what you see and why you're there.

[14:55:01]

LAH: I think, Alisyn, the thing that's most remarkable is what we're not seeing considering the numbers. You know, the two million in this country but the 300,000 into this city of 1.8 million people.

We're not seeing people sleeping on the streets in tents. We are not seeing services completely being overrun by these new visitors to this city.

What we are seeing is that well-oil machined, that people are giving sheets of paper about how to get the equivalent of a Social Security number, how to get free health care, how to enroll in school.

But there's strain on the system. Imagine, if you will, your neighborhood school had an increase in 30 percent of its students in a month. That's what happened here.

So that's what they are talking about, Alisyn, when they say there has to be help elsewhere. Because they just can't just sustain it forever.

CAMEROTA: It's just incredible, Kyung. And also seeing the generosity of spirit that the refugees are being met with.

Kyung Lah, thank you very much for your reporting.

We are following some breaking news. Son-in-law and former senior adviser to then-President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, is set to appear this week before the January 6th committee. We have all the new detail, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: We have some breaking news. Let's go right to the White House where President Biden is unveiling his new budget, which includes funding for Ukraine.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me begin by saying thank you, Director Young (ph).

You've heard me say this before over the years. My dad had an expression, he said, don't tell me what you value, show me your budget, I'll tell you what you value. Don't tell me what you value, show me your budget and I'll tell you what you value.

Well, the budget that I'm releasing today sends a clear message to the American people what we value.

[14:59:50]

First, fiscal responsibility. Second, safety and security. And, thirdly, investments needed to build a better America.

The first value is fiscal responsibility. The previous administration, as you all know, ran up record budget deficits. In fact, the deficit went up every year under my predecessor.